North Africans may have beaten Celts to Ireland When the Celts landed in Ireland 2,500 years ago, they may have been met by a population of North Africans, scientists now believe, writes Jan Battles. Linguists say a study of Irish and other Celtic languages has produced possible evidence that when the Celts invaded Ireland and Britain there were already Afro-Asiatic speakers here. Celtic languages – Irish, Scots Gaelic and Welsh – incorporate... 

North Africa The Amazigh origins and the early formations of cities and kingdoms demonstrate a problem common in newly formed states, the need for a clear principle of succession. Major problems arise because of the lack of a method of succession and it proves to be their downfall. The attempts to Romanize North Africa though very influential on the culture, eventually fail and after being governed by Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal and then Byzantine... 

Africa By the third century BC, Carthage had become such a large economic forcethat Rome was both jealous and fearful of it. In 264 BC, the first of a series of wars between Rome and Carthage began; the Punic Wars. In 146 BC, the third Punic War was over and Rome was the undisputed owner of all of known Africa. Rome formed its first African colony in the most fertile part, soon to be known as Africa Vetus. The rest of the continental territory was... 

The War with Jugurtha After the destruction of Carthage, the most important kingdom in Africa was Numidia. It contained a number of flourishing towns which were centers of a considerable commerce. Masinissa, the loyal Roman ally from the Punic Wars, left this kingdom to his son Micipsa. The latter had two sons and a nephew, Jugurtha. Jugurtha was a brilliant and ambitious young man, who had served under Scipio in the Spanish Numantine war, and returned... 

Syphax When Syphax was born, Numidia (the north of modern Algeria) was a country on the edge of the urbanized world of the Mediterranean. Although many people were living in large villages that would eventually develop into cities, another part of the Numidian population was still roaming over the plains. Our word “nomad” is derived from “Numidia”. There were two rival tribal federations, both in the process of becoming full-blown... 

The Notes of the Rif Revolt The Rif Revolt was one of the more remarkable bids for self-determination to occur during the European late colonial period, and was pursued by the Rifi and Jibala peoples of Morocco between 1920 and 1926. At the end of the second decade of the twentieth century, the colonial powers occupying Morocco were France – whose zone encompassed the southern part of the country, and Spain – who controlled the northern... 

The Notes of the Rif Revolt The Rif Revolt is one of the more astonishing bids for self-determination by a people bearing the yoke of colonialism. That it failed to achieve its primary aim, is a matter of history that passes over numerous achievements of the leaders of the revolt. However, despite the importance of the Revolt in its own time, this slice of history probably appears in few modern history texts. The Rif Revolt occurred between 1921 and... 

the Arthurian legend Although the newest Movie on King Arthur is fiction, research and documentation of my family history, prove it is based on fact. I now have a personal in the existence of King Arthur and his Knights. Not only do my family lines connect with the tribe Arthur would have come from, but to the current Royal Family (Guess Whose Coming to Dinner?). After many years of piecing together my family history, one drop of DNA put it all together. The... 

THE NEXT PATTERN OF CONFLICT World politics is entering a new phase, and intellectuals have not hesitated to proliferate visions of what it World map will be—the end of history, the return of traditional rivalries between nation states, and the decline of the nation state from the conflicting pulls of tribalism and globalism, among others. Each of these visions catches aspects of the emerging reality. Yet they all miss a crucial,... 

“Call to erect tomb and statue for Ibn Khaldun” announced Al- Ahram’s editorial on 14 May 1932. The writer, Ahmed Zaki Pasha, had learned that “the brave youth and distinguished elders of Tunisia, whose great fortune it is to boast the historical figure after whom their Khaldun Society is named, have set their minds upon organising a celebration to commemorate this genius who disseminated the rays of knowledge among...